[ LETTER ]

Clarifying the use of ‘ROC’

On Nov. 16, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), as the chairman of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), congratulated the newly appointed general secretary of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping (習近平), and the outgoing CCP general secretary, Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤), in separate telegrams.

Ma, using the title “Chairman” and date format “101 (2012)/11/15,” deliberately avoided use of the term “Republic of China (ROC).”

Ma’s deliberate avoidance of “ROC” shows that he did not want to tell a lie and means he admitted that the government of the ROC does not exist.